Ghost Peppers
by Whyte Board Marker
Summary: Marshall is reading to Mary when she is in her coma to be cut off by a voice he hasn't heard in a while. His reaction is unexpected. My version of the missing scene between the end of Season two and the beginning of Season three. Rated T for language and reference to mild adult situations. Disclaimer-I own nothing.


**This is my first fanfic. I have been reading since forever but haven't worked up the nerve to submit anything until now. I absolutely love In Plain Sight and I hated how it ended. This fic is my version of the missing scene where Mary wakes up from her coma when she was shot at the end of season 2. I do hope you** **enjoy!**

**Disclaimer; I own nothing. No financial gain is earned from this. **

It had been six weeks since Mary had fallen. She hadn't opened her eyes for six weeks. The bullet had nicked her hepatic vein, causing massive blood loss. The shot passed straight through, no fragments were left behind. Her internal organs were thankfully not severely damaged and were within the possibility of repair. However the main concern was the possibility of brain damage.

Marshall spent as much time with Mary as he possibly could. His case load had doubled, looking after his own witnesses as well as Mary. He was grateful to the higher authorities for not relocating any new witnesses to Albuquerque for the time being. Any witness at this time would suffer in terms of settling in.

Together with his extra-curricular activities of finding Mary's shooter, his general life was simply a pain in the behind like the bullet Mary once placed in his ass. He missed Mary's sharp sarcasm, her loaded quips that got under his skin, her playful banter. He missed his best friend. Heck. The only person that knew him better than he knew himself.

It was late. The clock in the waiting room claimed that it was twelve midnight. He had no need to flash his badge to gain access to her room as the staff knew of his usual hours of visitation. Marshall was slightly grateful that Mary's family never came at this time. Her family blamed him, he was her partner. He couldn't take anymore beatings; seeing Mary dying before his eyes was enough.

Mary's family kept their distance from Marshall, only communicating when they physically encountered each other. They usually visited at the evening hours, ranging anywhere from four to seven. Jinx and Brandi were civil to him as he took care of any concern they held. One person in particular never spoke to him, Raphael. A murderous look was always present on his face whenever he saw Marshall. It was obviously clear that he held Marshall responsible for his fiancée's current state. Marshall did not disagree with him. He knowingly left his partner in a dangerous territory, where she was outnumbered, taking orders from agencies that had no clue what to do when protecting a witness.

He would never forgive himself.

Never.

He was reading aloud to Mary. He grabbed the classic he was reading to her the previous day before he left home, anxious to resume his vigil at her bedside. He had finished several books with her, including the works of Poe, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Elliot and Joseph Conrad. Mary never had the patience to read, even her witnesses' case files. His goal was to expose her to the world she was lacking in enjoyment. Marshall believed that the joy of reading is one in which an open mind must be achieved before any pleasure is experienced. The sequence of different syllables and words were unique in every sentence, thus giving a different sense of pleasure as one glossed through the literary art. Today he brought The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Marshall cleared his throat and sipped some water before opening the book. He continued off where he left, progressing five chapters.

"…concealment of the spot in which the bridal night was to be spent being one of the most sacred taboos of the prehistoric ritual…"

Marshall read until a voice he missed for six weeks cut him off.

"Why couldn't Edith say that they didn't want to be disturbed as they had hot, passionate, body-splitting, a case of Red Bull needed, screams reaching to where only dogs could hear, freaky, kinky, blazing sex?"

The hard-covered book dropped on his tanned leather cowboy boot covered toes of his left foot. His hand was still in the air where he had held he book before his fingers slipped. His eyes were wide as he stared at the bed, his mouth gaping. He inhaled deeply and tried to speak but his vocal cords failed him. A croaking sound was emitted instead of any sound recognizable as a word in any language. In a split second he bolted out of the chair and into the corridor and ran to the nurses' station.

"She's awake!" He screamed to the poor young nurse on duty.

The girl visibly trembled when looking at the man who looked like an escaped psychiatric patient. Marshall was downright shabby. His eyes were wild and red- rimmed. He had not shaven or combed his hair in a while. He did not iron his clothing but he thankfully wore washed items. An older nurse took over when she saw the girl contemplating the fight or flight response. The experienced nurse immediately phoned Mary's doctor while Marshall ran back to Mary's room.

Mary's green eyes were opened, watching him intently, waiting for an explanation for his sudden actions. Her eyebrow was raised, with a hint of a smile forming on her lips. Her eyes never lost contact with Marshall's as he made him way slowly from the door to her bed. He stretched out his hand towards her cheek and simultaneously leaned towards Mary. He brushed her with a feathery touch and ran his thumb along her jaw line. He then took his other hand and cupped her face gently as if she would crumble into dust before his eyes. A sob escaped him as he looked into her eyes. A tear splashed unto her cheek and rolled down to her neck.

"I'm here Doofus. I never left you. . . Now quit crying like a little girl who rubbed ghost peppers in her eyes and help me sit up! I'm feeling the bedsores on my ass."

He struggled to compose himself and spoke the first thing that came to his mind as he helped her into the sitting position that she requested, careful not to disrupt her dressings covering her wound.

"Ghost peppers or the Bhut Jolokia are currently the hottest peppers in the world which originated in India. They are rumored to be so hot that the Indian Army uses the powdered form as weapons in warfare. Villagers also place the peppers on fences to ward off wild elephants since attacks have grown in occurrences over the years due to the clearing of the lands they occupy for industrialisation. The Ghost Pepper may not be the world's hottest for much longer as the Moruga Scorpion Pepper from the island of Trinidad was recently found to be hotter by the New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute scoring up to two million SHU on the Scoville Scale …"

Marshall was cut off by a groan emitted by Mary. He immediately held her, thinking she was in physical pain.

"Mary? Where does it hurt? Do you want to lie down again? It will be less stressful…"

"Marshall!"

Marshall focused himself and looked at her. She sighed and fondly smiled a sad smile.

"It was just to get your attention for you to shut your trap."

He smiled at her as he propped her with her pillow and then sweetly kissed her on her cheek, lingering for a while.

His Mary was awake.

**I hope you find this enjoyable. Thank you for reading! Reviews would make my day. :-)**


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